Apple's September 1st event: New iPod Touch
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 10:06PM | Glyn Evans At Apple's annual iPod refresh event held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco, Steve Jobs announced the 4th generation iPod Touch.
As previously speculated, the 4th generation iPod Touch now includes both a front and back facing camera, with the front facing camera being the same as the iPhone 4's, capturing VGA quality photos (ideal for self portraits) and video at up to 30 frames per second, as well as providing face to face video calling via Apple's FaceTime.
However, the back camera (main camera), based on Apple's spec's, shoots 720P HD video at up to 30 frames per second with audio, just like the iPhone 4, however unlike the iPhone 4 it would appear to only capture 960 x 720 HD stills, which if correct, is very disappointing.
I will wait until I get my hands on the new iPod Touch before passing judgement, but on first impression, this 4th generation is unlikely to inspire any new photographers.
The 4th generation iPod Touch will available next week priced at:
8GB iPod Touch 4G = £189.00/$229.00
32GB iPod Touch 4G = £249.00/$299.00
64GB iPod Touch 4G = £329.00/$399.00
Stay tuned for a full review.
iPod Touch 4G in Hardware, News
Reader Comments (9)
It's still better than nothing, maybe with the right apps on the iPod Touch like Hipstamatic, this might go somewhere.
The low-res still pictures on the back camera doesn't surprise me one bit. I'm shocked they were able to put a camera at all, considering this is even thinner than the previous version.
I'm not expecting a huge crop of new photographers due to this device. What would we call them anyway? iTouchographers?
That's too bad about the camera, I would think a still camera would be more useful then video...but maybe that's just my bias. I certainly use my still camera in my iPhone 4 much more then the HD video.
While I totally agree it would have been nice to have something like the 5 megapixels from the iPhone 4, it's just not possible in something that thin. Oh well :/ the HDR thing in iOS 4.1 is pretty awesome!
even in the tech specs section of the new touch i don't see anything specific about megapixels, whereas on the phones they always clearly state such.
it definitely seems like marketing speak to highlight video ability but not mention still photos. they did the same thing when the nano got a camera.
@kinto
why isnt that clear what they wrote on the website http://www.apple.com/ipodtouch/specs.html
"still photos (960 x 720) with back camera".
Unfortunately NOT a 5 MPix like in iPhone 4.
@Tomba
that's exactly what i meant. they don't draw attention to the actual megapixels number on the touch whereas on the phones they specifically state it. the 3gs is 3.2mp & the 4 is 5mp used as a selling point. it just seems conveniently left out on the previous nano and new touch on which they stress video capabilities rather than still photography.
i'm by no means expert, but a quick google provided the following:
http://web.forret.com/tools/megapixel.asp?width=960&height=720
(touch res-- based on your comment)
http://web.forret.com/tools/megapixel.asp?width=2592&height=1808
(iphone 4 res-- based on glyn's numbers in his prohdr/ truehdr post)
so if that site's calculations are correct, used as a still camera the new touch is .07mp? if that's the case it's no wonder they aren't shouting a number. even the general non-techie public is aware of megapixels when it comes to a digicam.
but i'm not bashing or anything... i've been an apple user to the core (pun intended) since the ][e. i could be completely mistaken, but it just seems like a little bit of rdf marketing to me.
@kinto, you are absolutely right, based on the specs listed on Apple's website the new iPod Touch will have a 0.7 megapixel camera!!!
***correction to above... 0.7mp rather than .07